Nature Makes a Compelling Case For Looking Into Shadow Work — And Not Being Scared of It
Reconsidering shadow work
We often think of shadow and darkness with great fear.
One day when I was a little girl swinging on a swing set I got very frustrated with my own shadow that kept emerging and disappearing over and over again. I begged my mom to make my shadow go away. Amused and wise, she said she couldn’t do it and tried to explain that our shadows are always with us and they are our friends. As a young girl, I was already annoyed with my own shadow and avoiding it.
Now, when I wander through our backyard, shadows are my friend. They often are the first sign of the magical butterflies that grace us every growing season. When I see on the grass in front of me a shadow of something flying I often look up and find a remarkable creature: a monarch butterfly, a blue heron, an owl, or a hawk. In this way, shadows are a guide. I can now see from this concrete example that I can turn inward to my shadow self and not be afraid of her.
Shadows are also a comfort in summertime as they indicate cool shade. Funnily enough, it took me until I was quite far into adulthood to recognize even shade shadows — talk about resistance!
As I am readying myself to embark on work with my new Spiritual Guide, Christine, DeMelle, I know I will practice shadow work with her. I asked her for her explanation of shadow work to share here and this is what she said,
“Shadow work is a radical act of self-compassion and self-acceptance, as well as self-awareness.
It’s not only healing to bring into our energetic embodied selves parts of ourselves that we have previously repressed, suppressed or exiled — it is medicine for ourselves and others.
This occurs because each shadow piece contains a part of our inner child selves waiting to be loved, accepted, heard and its needs met.
Once we have fulfilled the needs and build a relationship with these parts — we may find we can receive the ‘gifts of the shadow’.
Everything exists in polarity. So the parts of ourselves we have rejected — knowingly or unknowingly — we have also rejected the polar opposite part of our spirit with it.
For example, when I loved and nurtured my victim shadow — which had good reasons to be hurting — I received a vision of my joyful, wild and carefree self, in love with life and with nature.
Other gifts of the shadow show up as other types of things — spirit guides that are part of our magic, elemental things that make up our inner landscape and ecology, symbolic objects.
These gifts are our medicine, can help us remember who we are on a soul level and what we are here to be, and also can constitute our medicine for others — either through our presence, our energy or our actions.” — Christine DeMelle
This is heady stuff. I hope to write more about shadow work after I have experienced it. I am looking forward to finding my shadow side and working with her. I am looking forward to rediscovering my magic. I am looking forward to helping the little girl I once was to accept and embrace her shadow in a hug that integrates both the light and shadow side of her, of us.
As much as I once veered away from my literal shadow I am now drawn by a seemingly magnetic force and fascination to the creature shadows in my backyard. I no longer am annoyed with or afraid of my shadow. Instead, I am eager to learn from and work with my shadow self. Nature continues to show me who I am.
Aimée Gramblin is a nature writer, poet, gardener, wife, mother, daughter, friend, dog mom, and nature witch living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is diligently working to bring her memoir into publication.
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